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In The Phenomenon of Life, the first volume in this four volume masterwork, Alexander proposes a scientific view of the world in which all space-matter has perceptible degrees of life and sets this understanding of order as an intellectual basis for a new architecture. With this view as a foundation, we can ask precise questions about what must be done to create more life in our world – whether in a room…a humble doorknob…a neighbourhood…or even in a vast region.
He introduces the concept of living structure, basing it upon his theories of centres and of wholeness, and defines the fifteen properties from which, according to his observations, all wholeness is built. Alexander argues that living structure is at once both personal and structural.
Taken as a whole, the four books create a sweeping new conception of the nature of things which is both objective and structural (hence part of science) – and also personal (in that it shows how and why things have the power to touch the human heart). A step has been taken, through which these two domains – the domain of geometrical structure and the feeling it creates – kept separate during four centuries of scientific though from 1600 to 2000, have finally been united.
"The Nature of Order constitutes the backbone of "Building Beauty: Ecologic Design & Construction Process", an initiative aimed at radically reforming architecture education, with the emphasis of making as a way to access a transformative vision of the world. The 15 fundamental properties of life guide our work and have given us much more than a set of solutions. The Nature of Order has given us the framework in which we can search and build up our own solutions.
"In order to be authentically sustainable, buildings and places have to be cared for and loved over generations. Beautiful buildings and places are more likely to be loved, and they become more beautiful, and loved, through the attention given to them over time. Beauty is therefore, not a luxury, or an option, it includes and transcends technological innovation, and is a necessary requirement for a truly sustainable culture."
Dr. Sergio Porta, International Director, Building Beauty (www.buildingbeauty.org)
Professor of Urban Design, Director of Urban Design Studies Unit, and Director of Masters in Urban Design, University of Strathclyde
Reviews
"Alexander's genetic scripts are likely to... play a role so fundamental in the future,that their widespread use cannot even be imagined today. This will change the world as effectively as the advent of printing changed the world." – Doug Carlston, Co-founder, Broderbund Software, Founder & CEO, icPlanet.com
"...I can think of no one – certainly no one in the last thirty or so years – who has produced a deeper, more profoundly meaningful, visionary and lasting body of work that both unifies and transcends science and spirituality, than Christopher Alexander." – Andy Ilachinsky, Theoretical Physicist
"Five hundred years is a long time, and I don't expect that many of the people I interview will be known in the year 2500. Alexander may be an exception." – David Creelman, Author, Interviewer, and Editor, HR Magazine
"...I believe Alexander is likely to be remembered most of all, in the end, for having produced the first credible proof of the existence of God..." – Eric Buck, Department of Philosophy, University of Kentucky
Illustrations | 560 illustrations |
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Pages | 476 |
Dimensions | 278 x 191 |
Date Published | 30 Jun 2002 |
Publisher | The Center for Environmental Structure |
Subject/s | Philosophy: aesthetics   History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -   Environmental science, engineering & technology   Architectural structure & design   Residential buildings, domestic buildings   Urban communities   Environmentalist thought & ideology   Theory of architecture   Urban & municipal planning   |
- PART ONE:
- 1. The Phenomenon of Life.
- 2. Degrees of Life.
- 3. Wholeness and the Theory of Centers.
- 4. How Life comes from Wholeness.
- 5. Fifteen Fundamental Properties.
- 6. The Fifteen Properties in Nature.
- PART TWO
- 7. The Personal Nature of Order.
- 8. The Mirror of the Self.
- 9. Beyond Descartes: A New Form of Scientific Observation.
- 10. The Impact of Living Structure on Human Life.
- 11. The Awakening of Space.
- APPENDICES: Mathematical Aspects of Wholeness and Living Structure.
Professor Alexander is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received his doctorate in Architecture from Harvard University after completing degrees at Cambridge University in mathematics and architecture. He is the winner of the first medal for research awarded by the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Swedish Royal Academy, recipient of the Distinguished Professor Award from the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and the recipient of the Vincent Scully Prize awarded by the National Building Museum in the US, among many other prestigious awards throughout his career.
Christopher Alexander writes "I believe we are on the threshold of a new era when the proper understanding of the deep questions of space, as they are embodied in architecture will play a revolutionary role in the way we see the world and will do for the world view of the 21st and 22nd centuries, what physics did for the 19th and 20th."